Deadly Ramification

A pickup-truck driver died in Mission Valley on Thursday morning, December 3.

“While driving on I-8, I saw a truck racing with another car,” said witness Jackson Foreman. “It hit a Dodge Ram and almost flew over the hill off the freeway landing on the street below. It barely missed another guy on a bicycle.”

California Highway Patrol spokesman Brad Baehr confirmed that a driver lost control of his 1990 Toyota pickup truck for unknown reasons while speeding west on I-8 at about 7:30 a.m. The truck swerved and struck the front end of a 2004 Dodge Ram, which in turn crashed into a 1994 Jeep Grand Cherokee. Meanwhile, the Toyota truck jumped off the north side of the freeway, went down an embankment, and smashed through a chain-link fence before overturning and coming to rest on its side in a commercial driveway on Camino del Rio North.

According to Baehr, the paramedics pronounced dead at the scene the driver of the pickup. Both directions of Camino del Rio North were closed for a couple of hours.

Gee Pete, you're supposed to say something like "My thoughts and prayers are with the family of the deceased. I'm sure he was a wonderful guy, even though I didn't know him." Come on, Pete, let's do these comments right!

Race car drivers should stay on the race tracks! Drivers like these are what causes delays on our freeways. That's why we should have dedicated busways and bikelanes to stay safer on our roads. The bicylist in this story was fortunate that he did not end up as another victim. Thanks to Jackson for the quick phone call on the event.

To respond to post #5, even if the CHP had high-definition cameras that could identify these vehicles, nothing much would come of it. Many years ago, I found myself in the middle of an impromptu drag race on eastbound I-8. I got vehicle descriptions and plate numbers from both cars, and as soon as I could, got to a phone and called the CHP. Did the dispatcher care? Nope. He told me that even with all the info I provided they could do nothing unless a sworn officer could positively identify the driver(s) while the offense was being committed.

More recently after an incident where a motorist tried to report something like this a few minutes before a serious crash, the CHP changed its tune and told the public to call them regardless. In that instance, the CHP dispatcher had blown off the caller just about they way I'd been ignored. But, guess what? If you call now, they'll still say about the same thing.

If eyewitness reports aren't good enough, neither are cameras unless those cameras are aimed right at the faces of drivers. What the CHP needs to do is put its units and personnel out on patrol, after getting them out of the station house, and out from behind their report-generating laptops. When do you see CHP units today? Answer: At accident sites, AFTER the damage is done.

Thanks for the info Visduh. It's too bad they can do much with the cameras since they sure can catch us when we speed through red lights. They get our license plates and send us a ticket. I know since I was with a friend who got on. Why can't they do the same on the freeways? Are the cars too fast?

Someone should do an exposé piece on 911 operator training, including a random sampling of recordings of each operator. Dissing people who bother to exercise their civic responsibility, while possibly exposing themselves to legal entanglement, adds to the sense of apathy that the law-enforcement community helps to create, along with public officials in general. 911 operators frequently fail to get the message right because they have a habit of interrupting, borne of their presumptuousness with disrespect for "we the people," and they "get off" on the power they have. What we have here is a failure to communicate—an intentional failure. Are the editors listening?

Twister, operators have a hard job in juggling all kinds of things at a short amount of time when they have all kinds of emergency calls. I volunteered one time for a suicide hotline and that was hectic enough. Talked to a friend who works as a 911 operator and it is a stressful job.